Drag Force Analysis Over A Sphere

Diameter of Sphere (D)

Frontal Area (=D2/4)

10 cm = 0.1 m
:

0.007854 m2

Velocity (v)

10 m/s

Density of air (@200 C)

1.2 Kg/m3

Absolute Viscosity of air (@200 C)

18.14x10-6Pa.S

Reynolds Number (= vD/)

0.66x105

True Solution(From experiments done by NASA)

So at Re = 0.66x105 ,the Drag Coefficient (CD) is 0.5

So the Drag Force is FD = x CD x Av2 = 0.2356 N

Flow Design (after stabilization of flow)

Cd = 0.55
Fd = 0.261 N
Max Pressure at the front = 54 Pa
Max Velocity ( on the widest lateral section )= 12 m/s
Simulation CFD (after solving 100 iterations/steps)

Cd = 0.41
Fd = 0.193 N
Max Pressure at the front = 60 Pa
Max Velocity ( on the widest lateral section )= 16 m/s

Velocit
y

Above graphs are

obtained from data
points along the red
line